After scoring a hit with Hostel last year, director Eli Roth was quick to capitalise with a sequel. Part II in the franchise is the "gory but hoary" tale of pretty, skimpily clad teenage girls getting hacked to pieces (again). It got the official backing of Quentin Tarantino, but even so, the sequel took less than half the profits of the original film. Ouch - that's gotta hurt.

Euro Trash

Roth loves the camera, featuring heavily in a behind-the-scenes trawl across Europe. After taking the waters at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, he's suitably relaxed when it comes to presiding over various slashings, hackings and bloody beatings on set in the Czech Republic. The director also takes time out to explain that he didn't want to "repeat himself" in the sequel, which is why, instead of slicing Bijou Phillips' face off with a chainsaw, he goes for the circular saw option.

There's a closer look at the making of Bijou's face fricassee in a brief look at special effects. Production designer Robb Wilson King talks about creating a "seductive atmosphere" for the train scenes in another featurette and Roth showcases his own concept art. According to these childish scrawls, the girls fall victim to a giant Mr Potato Head. Maybe that's why it's hard to keep a straight face in a half hour discussion of The Legacy Of Torture where Roth insists that this isn't just a horror film but a piece of "social commentary". He talks it up in a radio interview as well, referencing Abu Ghraib and even Hurricane Katrina.

Slice And Dice

In written introductions to ten deleted scenes, Roth accepts that there was perhaps too much female nudity in the first Hostel. He went about redressing the balance by chucking in a gratuitous close-up of male genitalia, which is probably missing the point slightly. In other off-cuts, he puts a slightly different spin on the obligatory shower scene, and Roger Bart (as creepy Stuart) suffers from performance anxiety. A Blood and Guts gag reel does exactly what is says on the tin and manages to fit in yet more gratuitous nudity.

Roth babbles on about the horrors of Abu Ghraib and the necessity of naked girls in no less than three commentary tracks. He shares the first with Quentin Tarantino, who reveals that they hatched an idea to explore the "minutiae" of physical torture whilst "in the pool" (perhaps after inhaling some chlorine fumes). In another track Lauren German and Vera Jordanova thank Roth for giving them their big break "in a film of this stature" (anything for a visa, eh?) and the director goes it alone in the final track, chatting about the finer details of dismemberment and such. Overall this DVD is exploitative, nauseating and repellent - we suppose that's a thumbs up for horror fans.

EXTRA FEATURES

Hostel II: Unseen Edition DVD is released on Monday 22nd October 2007.